- freely available
Accounting for Sustainability: A Dissenting Opinion
AbstractDiscounted-utilitarian welfare, the commonest social objective studied by economists, is the basis for the theory of green accounting in terms of social utility. Sustainability is a different type of social objective. Consequently, green accounting as derived in many empirical models is not appropriate for studying sustainability. Maximin is a consistent foundation for the analysis of sustainability, both weak and strong, that provides conceptually correct accounting prices. These prices are not yet practicable for real economies, however, and must await further advances. Sustainable development is a generalization of the notion of sustainability and can be analyzed using a generalization of maximin.
Share & Cite This Article
Cairns, R.D. Accounting for Sustainability: A Dissenting Opinion. Sustainability 2011, 3, 1341-1356.View more citation formats
Cairns RD. Accounting for Sustainability: A Dissenting Opinion. Sustainability. 2011; 3(9):1341-1356.Chicago/Turabian Style
Cairns, Robert D. 2011. "Accounting for Sustainability: A Dissenting Opinion." Sustainability 3, no. 9: 1341-1356.
Notes: Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.